B. Alan Wallace, 21 Sep 2015
We go directly into the meditation on resting awareness with single pointed attention on the space of the mind. Alan resumes the oral transmission and commentary of the Mahamudra chapter from pages 161 to 165. He emphasises that Karma Chagme makes it clear he is focussed on Shamatha with its 9 stages mapped onto initial, intermediate and culmination metaphors of moving water. The first 3 stages are like a cascading waterfall. Then stage 4 Shamatha is the initial metaphor of a stream in a narrow gorge. The intermediate metaphor is like a river flowing through a valley – equivalent of Shamatha stage 6. The culmination water metaphor is an ocean unmoved by waves, Shamatha stage 8. Alan says we must know these pith instructions (pp. 161-162). Continuing with the text, Alan comments on the fact that it is very easy to mistake the lower accomplishments for higher ones and this has been happening for a thousand years. However, this Mahamudra chapter is our guru to check these mistakes. Alan further comments on the text that we need to be aware of meditative states accompanied by grasping.
The meditation starts at 0:19.
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